Registry Scripting Examples

The scripting examples in this article demonstrate how to add a key to the system registry; register the Registrar COM server; and specify multiple parse trees.

Add a Key to HKEY_CURRENT_USER

The following parse tree illustrates a simple script that adds a single key to the system registry. In particular, the script adds the key, MyVeryOwnKey, to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. It also assigns the default string value of HowGoesIt? to the new key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
{
   'MyVeryOwnKey' = s 'HowGoesIt?'
}

This script can easily be extended to define multiple subkeys as follows:

HKCU
{
   'MyVeryOwnKey' = s 'HowGoesIt?'
   {
      'HasASubkey'
      {
         'PrettyCool?' = d '55'
         val 'ANameValue' = s 'WithANamedValue'
      }
   }
}

Now, the script adds a subkey, HasASubkey, to MyVeryOwnKey. To this subkey, it adds both the PrettyCool? subkey (with a default DWORD value of 55) and the ANameValue named value (with a string value of WithANamedValue).

Register the Registrar COM Server

The following script registers the Registrar COM server itself.

HKCR
{
   ATL.Registrar = s 'ATL 2.0 Registrar Class'
   {
      CLSID = s '{44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3}'
   }
   NoRemove CLSID
   {
      ForceRemove {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3} =
                   s 'ATL 2.0 Registrar Class'
      {
         ProgID = s 'ATL.Registrar'
         InprocServer32 = s '%MODULE%'
         {
            val ThreadingModel = s 'Apartment'
         }
      }
   }
}

At run time, this parse tree adds the ATL.Registrar key to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. To this new key, it then:

• Specifies ATL Registrar 2.0 Class as the key's default string value.
  
  
• Adds CLSID as a subkey.
  
  
• Specifies {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3} for CLSID. (This value is the Registrar's CLSID for use with CoCreateInstance.)

Since CLSID is shared, it should not be removed in Unregister mode. The statement, NoRemove CLSID, does this by indicating that CLSID should be opened in Register mode and ignored in Unregister mode.

The ForceRemove statement provides a housekeeping function by removing a key and all its subkeys before recreating the key. This can be useful if the names of the subkeys have changed. In this scripting example, ForceRemove checks to see if {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3} already exists. If it does, ForceRemove:

• Recursively deletes {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3} and all of its subkeys.
  
  
• Recreates {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3}.
  
  
• Adds ATL Registrar 2.0 Class as the default string value for {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3}.

The parse tree now adds two new subkeys to {44EC053A-400F-11D0-9DCD-00A0C90391D3}. The first key, ProgID, gets a default string value that is the ProgID. The second key, InprocServer32, gets a default string value, %MODULE%, that is a preprocessor value explained in the section, Using Replaceable Parameters (The Registrar's Preprocessor), of this article. InprocServer32 also gets a named value, ThreadingModel, with a string value of Apartment.

Specify Multiple Parse Trees

In order to specify more than one parse tree in a script, simply place one tree at the end of another. For example, the following script adds the key, MyVeryOwnKey, to the parse trees for both HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKEY_CURRENT_USER:

HKCR
{
   'MyVeryOwnKey' = s 'HowGoesIt?'
}
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
{
   'MyVeryOwnKey' = s 'HowGoesIt?'
}

Note   In a Registrar script, 4K is the maximum token size. (A token is any recognizable element in the syntax). In the previous scripting example, HKCR, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, 'MyVeryOwnKey', and 'HowGoesIt?' are all tokens.